Use Soft Hands when Defending

Use soft hands when defending

Relax your grip on the bat when playing defensive shots, especially to slow bowling. This allows the hand to absorb energy from the impact of the ball on the bat and will lessen the re-bound distance of the ball off the bat, lowering your chance of being caught by a close-in fielder or the bowler.

Be an intelligent batter

An intelligent batter will take the game to the fielding team by scoring confidently and freely against all but the most demanding deliveries from the bowlers, but will give few chances for them to dismiss him.

For example, one of his favourite shots is the lofted straight drive which he plays successfully for three boundaries. Not surprisingly, the fielding team captain puts a fielder back on the long-on boundary. The intelligent batter takes account of this and changes his strategy and starts safely picking up singles off virtually every ball by clipping the ball along the ground to the long-on fielder. The intelligent batter keeps the scoreboard ticking over, reduces risk to a minimum, frustrates the bowler and fielding captain, and possibly produces a match winning innings.

Time to play your shots

Sports scientists have determined that it takes 0.2 seconds to sight, predict the flight of the ball, make a decision on what stroke to play and another 0.3 seconds to play the stroke. This means that for every batter it takes at least 0.5 seconds for the decision and response aspect of playing a stroke. What remains of the time taken for the ball to travel from the bowler’s hand to the batter is available for the perception of the ball and the predicting of the flight. A ball travelling at 100 km/h (a typical speed for a 12-14 year-old pace bowler) takes about 0.75 seconds to reach the batter. This means that the batter must sight and predict the path of the ball in the first quarter of its flight. At that moment a decision must be taken and the stroke started. An experienced batter can do this, the less experienced cannot. He needs to see the ball for a much longer period of time to make an accurate prediction and decision.

One way you can help yourself become more skilled at this process is to pick your bat up early, thereby cutting down the movement time in playing the stroke. Another is to combine the pickup of the bat with a first foot movement back and across toward off stump. This will give you a few extra milliseconds to sight the ball. You can still play a successful front-foot shot from this position if the delivery demands it.

As an aside, it is interesting to note that a bowler delivering the ball at 130 km/h gives the batter 0.5 seconds before the ball has arrived at him. This gives the batter 0.0 seconds to see and predict the flight of the ball before deciding what shot to play. Makes you wonder how batsmen cope facing 150-160 km/h deliveries?

Timing the ball

The ball will rebound more forcefully off the bat if struck with the heaviest part of the bat, which is found in the lower half of the bat face. Although we call this sweet spot the middle, it is actually lower down the bat face than the geometric middle.

Taking guard in front of the crease

If you are finding it difficult to score off a pace bowler, with the wicket-keeper standing back, don’t be afraid to take guard up to a metre in front of the batting crease. This will serve to disrupt the bowler’s rhythm and he will need to adjust his length to avoid bowling full-tosses or half volleys. It will also serve to make it harder for an umpire to give you out LBW as the umpire will have more doubt in his mind as to whether the ball will have continued on to hit the stumps.

Know your limits

Learn your limitations and develop your batting approach accordingly. Every young player will have some weak shots and will need to be wary of playing them and may need to eliminate some entirely. However, your ultimate aim will be to develop these weak shots through practice and correction so that you will be confident to use them in the future. You should aim to work on these weak shots indoors in the winter and in the nets during pre-season practice. You then must decide whether you are confident enough to use them in matches. Your aim should always be to score at the fastest possible rate with the least possible risk.

 

Study the Fielders

Study the fielders

Even if you have not been on strike for a couple of overs, this need not be a dull time for you. You should be closely studying the fielders, observing who has strong or weak throwing arms, who is left or right-handed, who is particularly agile and who is slow or quick to get to the ball. Many extra runs can be gained by taking advantage of any lack of skill or urgency by a fielder and many a run-out can be avoided when non-striking batsmen are observant of such factors as mentioned above.

The state of the wicket

If the wicket is hard and fast, with little sideways movement, play forward when in doubt as this will limit your errors. In other words, go back to the short ball, forward to the full or short of a length ball. If, however, you are facing a real speedster, you may be forced on to the back foot to most of his deliveries.

If the wicket is slow or wet, with the ball not coming on to the bat, reverse the approach and play back when in doubt. Look to use the pull or cut if the bounce is consistent.
If the wicket is consistently keeping low, you must favour the front foot, to reduce the chances of being bowled or caught LBW by a “shooter”. Try to play straight as much as possible.

If the wicket is erratic in pace and bounce, with one ball keeping low and the next rearing alarmingly, all the previous plans are of little use. You will have to trust your instincts. If the bowlers are exploiting the conditions to their advantage, you may be best to take the game to them by hitting over the infield. This may put them off their previous control of line and length and turn things to your advantage. 

Study the bowlers

When facing the real speedster or a medium pacer who is swinging the ball a large amount, it is often advantageous to make your first movement back and across towards off stump to give you a bit of extra time to make your decision. If the ball is short, you continue the back foot movement. If it is full of length, you push forward into what is called the “half-cocked” position. This technique gives you surprisingly more time to see the ball. A disadvantage is that it will reduce your front foot driving opportunities, but it will certainly help you settle down at the start of your innings.

Against all other types of bowlers on good wickets, you are safer on the front foot while you are adjusting to the conditions. If you are facing spinners at the start of your innings, resist the temptation to move out of your crease to the ball. Instead, play yourself in by pushing forward from within the crease, ensuring that you keep your back foot grounded well behind the batting crease. Watch out for the delivery that is full of length, which drifts away. It is easy to overbalance and lift your back foot as you try to drive at the ball.

Hopefully you will have developed attacking shots off both the front and back foot. After getting a start, picking up a number of singles and successfully adjusting to the conditions, it will come to the time when you need to look to play more aggressively.

This is where you have to weigh the risks of each shot against the potential rewards. You should know your capabilities well enough to know which shots you have mastered to a level where they are reasonably low risk and which you have not yet mastered and are too high risk to play unless the state of the game demands them. Often the decision comes down to two choices, higher risk cross-bat boundary shots and deliberately hitting in the air. If you are going to play the cross-bat strokes, the pull and the cuts, you must be sure of the pace and bounce of the pitch. Lessen the risks by not hitting the ball in the air and don’t try and hit these shots too hard. Instead, use the pace that is already on the ball and help it on its way to the boundary. In other words, deflect the ball towards the boundary with a turn of your wrists rather than trying to “thrash” it.
If, because of the state of the game or the way the field is set, you must take the aerial route; make sure you are aware where the boundary fielders are placed. Don’t be “sucked in“ to hitting the ball directly to one of these fielders. If all the fielders in front of the wicket are up, the safest aerial shot is the lofted straight drive. Make sure you go completely through with the shot. Hit it hard, not half-heartedly.

Lastly, try and hit in the air downwind rather than in to the wind. Many a batter has tried to take on a strong breeze only to see the ball “hang” in the air as a fielder manoeuvres under it.

The best Batsmen

The best batsmen

The highest class of batsmen are often not the flashiest stroke makers; they are the ones who make the least mistakes. In other words, they are the best thinkers about their batting. They are well-organised, planning carefully for each innings. They analyse the strengths and weaknesses of the opposition bowlers and are aware of where each fielder is placed. They play within their own limitations, eliminating high-risk strokes from their game. They have an unruffled temperament, never letting the bowler know that they have got them rattled. They hate getting out.

Acclimatising your eyes

While you are waiting for your turn to bat, make sure you sit in the same light as the players are experiencing on the ground. Do not be tempted to sit in the dark confines of the dressing room as you will struggle to pick up the path and bounce of the ball at the start of your innings.

Pass the outgoing batter

Help to keep the game moving by passing the dismissed or retired batter before he/she has left the ground. The time taken for batters to change places is dead time and should be reduced to a minimum. 

Taking guard

When taking guard, say please and thank you to the umpire. You never know……. The guard you take is up to you, but be aware that taking middle does bring your legs into line with the stumps and make you more vulnerable to lbw decisions. Taking guard on middle and leg is a common choice and takes the pads away from the line of the stumps. If you are tall for your age, a leg stump guard may be right for you. 

Starting your innings

Unless the game situation demands you attack from the first ball, you will have some time to play yourself in. This involves learning about the pace and bounce of the pitch, getting your feet moving, studying what the bowler is doing, focusing your eyes on the ball and so forth. Learn to leave deliveries that are not threatening your stumps and play in the “V” with a straight bat to cut down the risk factors. If, for the first few overs, you aim to play with a dead straight bat in front of the wicket, you will almost certainly still be batting and starting to find the ball becoming easier to see and judge.
It is important, however, not to allow yourself to get bogged down as this will give the bowler a psychological advantage over you. Start by looking for singles to get your run tally underway. If your batting partner has been at the wicket for some time, play a supporting role, remembering though that a bad ball is a bad ball whenever it is delivered and it should be despatched to the boundary if it can be done so with a straight bat, even if it is the first ball you have faced in your innings.

Memorize the gaps in the field. As you build your innings assess the wicket, the influence of the weather, the standard and types of bowling, and the standard of fielding.